


Nothing to lose

by cferre



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: 13 Reasons Why Season 2, Bullying, F/M, Fights, High School, Multi, My First Work in This Fandom, Rape, Sex, Spoilers, Teen Angst, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-05-26 00:04:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14988431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cferre/pseuds/cferre
Summary: What happens when you have nothing to lose? You lose fear.





	1. One

 

 

She hit hard, with the palms of her hands, the desk on which Scott was sitting to get his attention in an effective way.

“Where is he? Where is your stupid best friend?” Roared angrily.

“Wow, I always thought you helped him with maths and not with chemistry” Bryce scoffed without letting Scott answer to her.

“Shut the fuck up.” Sam spit out.

“Although, less clothes of yours plus less clothes of Monty is equal to sex, have you fuck with Monty?” Bryce insisted a little more.

“You're disgusting” Attached again. She encased Scott again. “If you see your best friend, tell him I don’t have too much time to waste it waiting for him. I have others things to do.  If he doesn’t show up tomorrow I’ll not help him anymore and he will have to leave the baseball team because he will not pass the exam.” Threatened, she scanned each of Montgomery's friends and companions with her eyes.

“Monty will not come tomorrow.” He hastened to talk. Sam looked at him confused, waiting for an explanation. “He has been expelled for a week.”

“What? Why?”

“You’ve fuck him; otherwise, you wouldn’t been so worried.” Laughed again.

Scott laughed too but coughed to stop laughing at Sam's threatening look.

“He doesn’t have a mobile phone to tell something? To advice?” Sam looked to each of them again. “Hey, today I’m not coming. I’m expelled for beating a geek; you know I’m and imbecile and a gorilla. Kisses. Xoxo.” Sam imitated Monty’s voice while she was pretending to write in an invisible mobile.

“He is in my guest house, the one by the pool, in case you want to go there to teach him, you know, so he doesn’t has to leave the team.” Bryce's smile was full of malice and pranks. He wanted to provoke her, again.

“Tell him to call me, you will?” She turned to Scott and ignored Bryce once more.

“If you like my friend, I’m not going to get mad at you or to him; ours is more than overcome.” He raised his voice for Sam to listen to him as she left class amidst the laughter of his friends.

Sam just showed his middle finger in an obscene gesture.

“Yes, definitely has very nice legs.” Anderson nodded.

“I should never have left her.” Bryce tilted his head thoughtfully, he was arms crossed.

“She left you.” Rogers taunted remembering to him the true version.

The rest of his companions laughed with him. Bryce threatened them all, unable to avoid joining them.

They pointed out Sam's name right next to "better legs".

***

 

“Anything you want to add?” Interposed the sheet of paper, wrinkled and folded in any way, between Monty and the television. Scott dropped by his side on the couch.

Monty unfolded the sheet and began to read what his friends had written. Each and every one of them was sitting in the place they used to occupy. Bryce sat on the other side of Monty and picked up the beer can that was open on the table.

“Zoe as better lips? You don’t have criteria.” He drew an expression of genuine displeasure on his face. Disgusting.

“I told you.” Bryce recriminated his friends. “What do you think of Lucy as worse boobs?”

“We would have to have a category that said "abortion" and Lucy could be there. Her only problem isn’t her boobs.” Monty scoffed scornfully. He was backed by Bryce with his laughs and with the slaps of Rogers.

“She’s the Liberty grinch.” Supported Steven. Everyone laughed.

“What’s going on, Zach? You haven’t told anything.” He stretched his arm to pass the beer as if it were an invitation.

Everyone turned to Zach. He was sitting on a high stool; arms crossed and looked at his friends without saying a word, as if he was reproaching them something. He stared at them, uncomfortable, as if he wanted to get out of there and get away as much as he could.

He took a breath before speaking. As if he needed courage and was in the air.

“Last year we screwed up a lot to make the list and this year we are doing another.” He rejected Bryce's beer.

“Don't cheat to yourself; they all wait for the list. Who says no, lies.” Monty opened a new beer for him and handed another one to Scott. The second insulted him in whispers, he had stirred and now he had to open it carefully.

“And Hannah?”

“Hannah, Hannah, Hannah.” Monty snorted, taking away all the importance. “She is dead and she was an exaggerated one. You look like Jensen.”

Bryce laughed again mockingly. He drank one more time finishing the beer.

“Let's go talk about serious things, whoever wants to add or change something to the list has until tomorrow at free time. Then we will publish it.” Bryce looked at his friends looking for conformity. “Perfect.” From inside his bag he took out a small box where he kept the marijuana so it didn’t smell.”

“By the way, Monty, Sam is mad at you.” Remembered Scott suddenly.

“With me?  I'm expelled, she can’t get mad at me.

“Exactly for that, for not telling to her. She has been waiting for you today.” Explained.

Monty dismissed it with a movement of his hand, as if he were frightening flies and Sam was an exaggerated one.

“Watch out.” Bryce called his attention, he was scolding him. “I need you in the team; if you don’t pass you aren’t in the team. Send her a message so she stays calm. It's what I do with Chlöe.” Half smiled mockingly among the cheers of his friends. “We must know how to carry the women.”

“Yes, it worked very well with Sam.”

“Fool. Now you don’t smoke.” He showed him the joint that was half rolled between his fingers.

“Don’t play with that!” Rogers laughed. “You can play with everything except alcohol and drugs.” They laughed again.

It was getting dark when they all left. They had spent the afternoon talking, laughing, drinking beer and smoking marijuana. Once in a while they had played a soccer match at the Play Station. They cursed on more than one occasion that the weather was not good enough to jump into the pool. They talked about the baseball season that was about to start, they talked about football and they talked about girls. They modified the list, they made a new list because they remembered more girls they knew and others they didn’t know personally. They had not realized that the time had passed, that it was dinner time. They needed one of their mothers to call them to back to reality.

“What do you want for dinner Monty? We are left alone, in the end it will be a romantic dinner.”

“With candles?” He raised both eyebrows sceptically.

“And with sex for dessert.”

“I hope so, I wouldn’t accept otherwise.”

Both friends laughed and got up to leave the guest house and go to the main building. Monty had rarely been in the main building of Bryce's house, they were always in the guest house, it was their space, his parents didn’t enter the few times they were at home. Before meeting Bryce, he believed that he had no one to envy, but he was wrong. Bryce had more than him.

He didn’t like that feeling of not being the first, of not being the one they envied, of not being the one they chased, of not being the center of attention of their friends, of not being the captain. He didn’t like being in the shade of anyone. He had never been until he met Bryce, but he knew how to take advantage of those situations. It wasn’t so bad to be in the shadow of someone who took the sticks for him.

“Your mother has spoken with you; she has said something to you.” He picked up a new piece of pizza, put it on his plate and wiped his hands with a napkin before giving it the first bite.

“She phoned to me this afternoon. She says my dad is still pretty pissed off but it seems she can start talking to him, again. In a couple of days I'll be able to go home.” Monty spoke with his mouth full, as if he hadn’t eaten in days.

“You know you can stay as long as you need. When you don’t stay here and your old man gets mad, where do you stay?”

“Scott's house.” He lied. But it was the cover. Always Scott, his best friend. Let no one be wrong and think it was Bryce.

“What's going on between you and Sam? Don’t get me wrong,” he added quickly, "I'm with Chlöe and I have no interest in Sam, it's past. It's simple curiosity.”

“She only gives me maths classes and gets mad at me.”

“ Because you don’t  know the lessons?” They laughed.

“No, because I annoy her best friend. I even not remember his name, how I have to remember him?”

“You're a fucking bully.” Bryce scoffed. “One good night before going to sleep?

“Sure, of course.” Monty accepted with a smile.

Both boys smiled in the same way. They both knew that they played the same game and that at any moment either of them could make a check play to the king. But there was something that Monty didn’t have and Bryce did, and both of them knew it too.

***

 

The annoying ring of Monty's phone rang for the third time just as insistently as the first two. The first time he had not heard it, he had been deeply asleep; the second had seemed a distant noise within his dream; but now he was wide awake and could not ignore it. He had to decide whether to take it or not. He decided to take it.

“Hello?” He scratched his bare chest lazily. He was still in bed.

“Open the fucking door.” Ordered a voice that had become very familiar for him that last year.

“I'm in boxers.”

“I don’t care. Open.” She insisted authoritatively.

Monty wasn’t very good at being given orders, but he had learned to obey her. He always ended up doing what she said when she taught maths refresher courses. The only exception and everything to approve, stay on the team and be able to go far away.

“You're getting too used to giving me orders.” Monty got up from the bed; barefoot he left the guest house and went to the front door.

“And I will continue. Hurry up.” She hung up

Monty looked at the phone screen, the call had not lasted more than a minute. He blocked the phone and hurried on. He stretched lazily before opening. Sam came in like a rocket at Bryce's house.

“Good Morning.” Monty said, closing the door.

“Come on, I only have one free hour, where do we put ourselves?”

“Direct to the point, as I like it.” Monty half smiled.

“Stop saying stupid things. I brought you this.” Showed him the math book.

“Why can’t you admit that you came to see me? That you missed me.” He added a touch of amusement in his smile.

“Stop saying stupid things. You want to be able to play the first game, right? A few days before the game is the first exam.”

“Let's go to the guest house, I'm there.” He took the book from her hands and stepped forward.

“Why are you installed at Bryce's house?”

“He is afraid of the dark and is alone.”

Sam caught it at once. It was a sarcastic and evasive response. He wasn’t going to tell her the real reason.

“Why are you expelled?” She tried something different.

“To hit an imbecile.” He shrugged as if it didn’t have the slightest importance.

“To who?” She stretched a little more knowing that the rope could break.

“Tyler, the yearbook freak.”

“I know who is.” She laughed shaking her head, he thought that his clarification could have helped someone who didn’t know who was to identify him; but it was useless if you didn’t know who Tyler was. “What did he do to you? You always annoy him.”

Monty turned his head so he could look Sam in the eyes. He smiled with superiority. As if he were immortal and could do everything. As if everything was justified even if it wasn’t. As if the world was in his hands. Or at least the Liberty.

“Exist.”

 


	2. Two

 

Scott caught Monty's attention, in a disguised way and without attracting the attention of the math teacher, showed him the phone screen and both friends laughed silently. Scott handed the phone to Monty and he sent it to Bryce, sitting at the desk on his left with Chlöe. They also laughed. Bryce caught Marcus's attention, tapped him on the back, made sure that his teacher was not going to notice anything and passed the phone to his partner. So, carefully, between silent laughter and under the eyes of the students who had already seen him, Anderson's phone circulated through the hands of all his teammates.

“For tomorrow I want the exercises from 45 to 57 of page 36 done. You will deliver them to me and they will be evaluable.” He informed the students that the class was finished a few seconds before the bell rang loudly.

Monty snorted. More homework. He wanted so much finishing high school, going away and being an university student.

With the last word the teacher had given them permission to get up; didn’t take too long to obey him. It was one of the few times that an entire class obeyed, when they told them they could leave. But not all of them left instantly, the guys from the baseball team gathered around Anderson. They had questions to ask.

“Who is she? What a flirt you are made of. You didn’t tell us.” Bryce was the first to reach him and talk. He still had all his things to pick up on the desk.

“And he seemed silly when we bought him.” Monty picked up Anderson's phone one more time. He broadened the image to see the girl better in the photo. From a distance it seemed that no, but if you extended it you could see that the girl showed a nipple; he showed it to Scott quickly. “She has nice nipples.” He commented as if he had just said that it was a nice day, although the tone used overflowed with mockery. Scott was laughing.

“How do you know how her nipples are?” Anderson was surprised. Monty showed the photograph to him and all his companions. They laughed, Anderson didn’t seem upset, in fact, he liked it. “You are a pervert.” He teased by taking the phone from Monty and handing it to Rogers so he could see it too.

Anderson let his friends laugh and joke, that they congratulate him. Between laughter he was answering his questions. He left class surrounded by all of them who were full of pride for what he had achieved. And it wasn’t for less; she was a girl older than him.

“What are you looking at?” Scott wanted to know. Monty had stopped and was staring at something. He followed his gaze and discovered that this something was, rather, someone

“I see you in class.” He said goodbye to his friends. “Save me a site”. He winked complicitly at Scott and walked away from them.

They left them five minutes between classes to be able to change of classroom and not be late. The hall was full of students. Monty had to fight between them. He followed his goal to the boys' room.

Monty closed the door behind him loudly, drawing the attention of the two more students in there and, also, the attention of his goal. He faced them fiercely with his eyes. He didn’t need to say anything, they came out on their own.

“Move, quickly.” He could hear how he rushed each other. They were first-year students. Monty smiled proudly of what he could achieve.

“How long without seeing you, Tyler.” He slowly mentioned his classmate's name. “Have you missed me?” He smiled full of evil.

Tyler fell silent. He told himself that he shouldn’t be afraid of him but his body didn’t seem to agree with his thoughts. As Monty approached him, he took a step back. Because of his cowardice and not being able to stand up to Monty, he allowed himself to be cornered against the sinks.

Monty grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. He was forcing him to stand on tiptoe on his feet. Tyler felt the nerves begin to travel for every part of his body. His mouth was drying. He had forgotten how to move his arms, hands, or any other part of his body that might help him resist or move him away from him.

“What happen?” Tyler stuttered. As the end of the sentence reached his voice was disappearing. He was unable to keep it stable.

“What happen? Really?” Monty looked to his right and faced Tyler again, as if he was controlling himself not to stamp him against the mirror. He didn’t want to face his father again. “For your fault they have expelled me a week.” He reminded him.

“Because of me?” Tyler noted how Monty reaffirmed his grip on the collar of his shirt. He approached him; he noticed how the cameras stored in his case, and that hung from his neck, were the only thing that separated them. “I did nothing.” He managed to recover his voice.

“You come to this school. You exist.  Do you think is enough?”

The camera was stuck in against the stomach. Did not Monty notice it? He was worried about his camera at the same time he was grateful that it was there doing a minimal shield. Although if Monty wanted to the camera wouldn’t do anything.

“Be careful.” Tyler asked. Monty questioned him with his eyes, he defied him. How dare he? “The camera, they are expensive.”

“Oh, really? What is the most expensive meal you have ever eaten? It may be this.” He looked down at the camera. The bell rang announcing that the classes were going to start. Monty looked up as if he could see the vibrations of the sound. He smiled amused, it was a smile full of cruelty and didn’t bother to hide it. He looked at Tyler again. “The school has saved you. Saved by the bell.” He patted Tyler's cheek a couple of times and adjusted the collar of his shirt. He kept taunting of him. “I'll see you in class.”

And he left without looking back. As if it had been an informal conversation you have in the middle of the street and they would meet another day and be able to talk with enough time. Without a drop of remorse, worry or regret in his eyes.

After leaving the bathroom, Monty put the bag on his shoulder, looked at right and left in the hall to make sure no teacher was coming and went to class. He walked sure of himself and completely carefree. The school was his.

The class door was closed when he arrived. The teacher had already started with his explanation, you could hear his voice on the other side of the door. Nobody spoke. He knocked the door a couple of times; he waited for the professor to interrupt his explanation and opened the door. He pulled out his head at first, then let his body accompany her. He entered slowly, calculating and controlling each of his movements. Everyone looked at him. He spoke with a thread of voice.

“Can I?” Asked for permission. He didn’t look like him.

“Yes, of course De la Cruz.”

He smiled gratefully and silently advanced between the desks to the back of the class. Scott had saved him a place, just as he had asked.

“Something interesting?” He asked in whispers.

“Nah, I gave memories to Tyler.”

“Why are you going after him?”

Monty shrugged, he had never thought about it too much and he wasn’t going to start now either; he stopped looking at Scott and paid attention in class. Although he didn’t understand very well either because he needed a reason to hit Tyler or anyone else.

***

 

“This isn’t going here.” She erased the last thing Monty had written. “Go here.” She corrected the numbers and finished the problem explaining it step by step to Monty. “Do you understand?”

“I think. Let’s do other.” He retrieved his notebook while he waited for Sam to tell him what exercise they were going to do.

“Don’t you want to do a brake? We have been here for an hour and a half.”

“Don’t worry, let's continue.”

Sam turned the page. He stared at Monty, fixedly, a couple of seconds. He had known Montgomery De la Cruz for some years, he had met him when he was dating Bryce; but they had never spent so much time together like now. She remembered him being Bryce's right arm while Justin was the left one. Both were always stuck to his back for whatever he needed. Although, she had always heard that he was a good student, not brilliant but very good; that none teacher finished understanding how he was always punish for his behaviour, at classes he was attentive and he didn’t give problems. They also said that he will have a promising future with the baseball, the teachers, and the coach above all, they had hopes placed on him.

Hoping he would take the Liberty High School, his name, to the top; the same hopes they have in Bryce, Zach, Scott, Jeff and Justin, but these last two at the time, now no longer. He looked down at the book again and looked for a problem related to what he had been doing late.

That's why they worked so hard that the athletes, men, had everything they needed to pass or whatever they wanted. Whatever it was.

“You are amazing.” Sam muttered with a smile.

“Thank you.” He poked his chest proudly. He was not used to being flattered by Sam.

“It wasn’t a good thing.” She laughed. He looked up again, crossed his arms over the table and leaned her body on top.

“But you said I'm amazing.” He was indignant. He made himself comfortable in the chair, played with the pen and twirled it between his fingers.

“Yes.” She nodded. Monty looked at her confused and, at the same time, demanded an explanation. He was completely lost. Sam thought he looked adorable, that he looked like a small child lost in a mall. She laughed inside. “I don’t understand how sometimes you can be such a bastard and other times so normal.” The last part of the sentence she had to think for a few seconds. She couldn’t find the right words to express herself.

“What is it to be normal for you?”

“We're not going to enter into a philosophical conversation.”

“And why not? The truth is relative.” Monty laughed.

Sam shook her head, he was doing it again. He was very good playing with people

“How do you do it? Why do you do it? What is your true face?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, forget it.” Again she was thoughtful, slight wrinkles appeared on her brow. “We'll do exercise 4.” She approached him the book by the page of the problem.

“You're weird.” He murmured. He shook his head as if no girl had a remedy and started doing what the exercise demanded.

For Sam, Monty is a cigar in the earlier hours of the morning. A mocking smile. A daring look. A walk full of arrogance. A sure way of himself. Is the explosion, pure adrenaline, acting without thinking, a rollercoaster of intense feelings that he doesn’t know how to control and that he lets go without more. Is daring, is uncontrolled aggressiveness, knowing that you will burn if you play with fire and still want to touch the flame. Is challenges, is sex, is lust, lies, it's persuasion and manipulation. Is rebelling against everything, is constant challenge, is the anger that lies just below the surface of the skin. The best friend of his friends and the worst enemy of his enemies. Something she doesn’t know how to decipher. Is intelligence, but a cruel and ruthless intelligence. Pure evil.

He could be the perfect cliche boy that any girl could fall in love with because of the need to save a bad boy with no remedy. What happened to them? Why they has that need to save bad guys and be able to say the he changed for me? So obsessed with romantic love were they?

She snorted at his own thoughts and memories. She had wanted to save Bryce.

Sam stopped looking at nothing, that nothing that was in a fixed point of the table that had absorbed she completely. She looked up and found that Monty had stopped doing the exercise. He had his eyes fixed on Clay Jensen. His body had tensed.

“Do you remember the cigar that you offered me before?” He set the pen down on the table and closed the book.

“I have offered you a break. Not a cigar” She smiled, trying to ignore the fact that Monty was killing Clay with his eyes.

“Isn’t the same?” He smiled completely charming, though he still didn’t give Sam his full attention. “I'll accept it now”.

“You finished?” Monty nodded and handed the notebook to Sam. He took advantage of Sam's review of the exercise to pick up his things. “It's right, surely you do not know anything about math and you're not kidding me to meet with me?” She teased.

Monty let out a laugh. He shook his head and hung his bag on his back ready to go outside to smoke.

“You caught me. I'm really used to getting excellent.” The tone with which he said it made Sam doubt.

“For real?”

“Yes, less in mates and chemistry.”

“Are you kidding me.” Sam gathered all his things briefly, it could have been compared to a gust of wind. Monty was leaving her behind.

“Why do I have to tease you? Being an athlete doesn’t mean I'm stupid.”

“Wait me. Monty!” She raised his voice, catching the eye of some of the companions who were in the library, even Clay Jensen's. She left behind him.

***

 

“I'm home.” He left the bag lying next to the door. He was silent to see if he heard any noise that would indicate if there was someone at home besides him. “Mom? Dad?” He asked again. He began to go through the rooms in search of his parents.

“Go to pick up the bag, you know that your father doesn’t like to leave it lying in the hall. It gives a bad image.” His mother appeared behind him. Dressed elegantly, always prepared in case someone unexpected appeared at home, and held a cigarette between his fingers.

“Who will come on a Tuesday night?”

“Do it, don’t piss him off.” Monty snorted and slowly and shuffled to the front door to pick up the gym bag. “One day of this week has to go to the high school, I think it was Thursday.” She followed him. The pounding of the heels resonated with strength and security.

“Thanks.”

“How was it today?”

“Well, well. The teacher has given me the mark of the history work. A ten.” He went to the washing machine room and left his dirty sports clothes in the basket. He continued to his room, put the bag under the bed and sat on it. His mother had followed him there. “Tomorrow I’ll have the mark of the language exam and I suppose that the one of physics too, last week I was expelled.”

“Tell your father, he will be happy.” He released the smoke from the cigar outside his only son's room. “And try not to be expelled again. Think about your future.”

“I know.” He murmured. He forced a smile. “I’m sorry.”

“I know that your father is a complicated person, but he wants the best for you. We both want it.”

“I know.” He murmured again. “The trial of the dead girl begins on Thursday.”

“It worries you? “ His mother hesitated between entering the room and sitting next to his son or staying there. He decided to stand in the doorway.

Monty lay on the bed and looked at the phone.”

“I’m worried that it might affect the season.”

“Trust your father.” His mother ended the conversation. She gave a slight smile to his son and left.

Monty watched, out of the corner of his eye, as she walked away. He looked at the phone again. Sigh. From the pocket of his pants he pulled out the phone and sent a message to Scott.

 


	3. Three

 

Scott threw the baseball glove at Monty. The boy dodged it without problems while he continued making fun of his best friend in a crude imitation. This morning he had seen him so much nervous trying to invite a girl to have a drink after training and because of nerves he had stuttered like never before.

“You'll see.” He threatened him with laughter. He picked up the baseball glove from the ground and chased Monty.

“For that you'll have to catch me and if you try to catch me how you play baseball you'll never get me”. He scoffed at Scott and ran off to the baseball field.

Laughter, jokes, races, conversations; everything stopped when they arrived to the dock and they saw there Mr. Porter.

The coach told them to sit quietly. The boys looked at each other full of curiosity, they asked each other with the look what was going on, they looked for answers in the other, they murmured among themselves and looked at the counselor with suspicion. They didn’t like Mr. Porter being there, the counselor leaving his comfort zone was a bad sign.

The last two were Bryce and Zach.

“We can start.” The coach told Mr. Porter. “Well, boys; Mr. Porter has begun a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of consent at the time of having sexual relationships.” He was scratching his cheek. The discomfort was obvious in him, he didn’t want to talk about it with his kids. It was very difficult to find some words. His players were amused to see him in that situation and tried to laugh sniggering. “I'm going to read something. This time really listen to me, not like when I give you instructions and you ignore me.” He joked provoking the laughter of his boys.

“We cannot promise anything.” Rogers joked. More laughter, even the coach's.

Mr. Porter looked at them accusingly and reproachfully. But he was mostly looking at Bryce Walker. Bryce was sitting with an arrogant and superior posture, like most of his companions. They all had the same expression that it didn’t go with them and that it was a waste of time. Everyone was going to continue doing what they wanted, they knew it, the coach knew it and he knew it.

“It is important to have consent from the other person, be it a boy or girl. That they don’t resist or silence doesn’t count as an affirmation.” Silence. He looked at his boys. Neither was listening to him and he felt like a fool. He didn’t understand why he had to read that to his children, he knew that Mr. Porter hadn’t made any other coach read it. Then he would talk to him. He couldn’t discriminate his players like that. “The consent has to be given with words or actions.” He stopped again.

“A scream or a moan counts?” Scott joked. He smiled mockingly accompanied by the laughter of his companions.

“But you get them to scream?” Monty laughed at him. More laughter. Scott hit his best friend in the arm.

“You want to be a humorist or play baseball Mr. Reed?  “He immediately noticed Monty “De la Cruz, you have returned to class three days ago, I doubt you want to be expelled again.” Mr. Porter faced him. The coach turned to look at his co-worker. He didn’t like the tone he was using or how he treated his boys. “I can make that this season neither of you play.” Scott's smile disappeared. He looked down. Monty on the other hand, although he didn’t laugh anymore, looked at him haughtily, full of arrogance and defiance.

The coach questioned Mr. Porter with the look. He defied him. That wasn’t what they had talked about.

“All right.” He took control of the situation quickly and diverted the attention of the boys. “Express consent. Now let's train.”

“It doesn’t cost anything to ask, don’t be cubbish.” Bryce joked softly and in a small committee with Monty, Scott and Rogers.

The team got off the bench and went to the field. It hadn’t been a minute since the talk and they had already forgotten it; the same thing happened with talks about respect, bullying, sex with protection, suicide, universities, alcohol, driving under the influence of alcohol, being teenage parents, machismo and any other talk that a teacher could give them. They were teenagers. Nothing could happen to them. They were immortal.

 

***

 

Monty came up behind Bryce, grabbed him by the waist and pretended to be penetrating him. Bryce got up, had crouched down and soaped his legs, and pulled Monty away.

“You have not asked for permission.” He laughed at the talk they had been given today. They all laughed.

“Do you imagine the scene? There in the middle of the situation and having to ask you want to have sex with me right now. It goes down.”

“All or just the tip?” Anderson made his contribution.

“And how do you want it? Soft to fast?” Added Scott.

“Can I kiss you while we have sexual relationships?” They were still laughing. “Fucked Porter. He's bitter since Baker's.”

“You know who was in love with Hannah?” Steven interjected.

“Jensen, we all know.” It played down Scott.

“He is still wanking thinking of Baker.” Monty scoffed. Bryce accompanied him with a look of disgust on his face.

“No, it's not Jensen.” He smiled proudly to know something that his friends did not. “Julian.” He blew his smile.

“ From the basketball team?” Steven nodded.

“Gross.” Monty tied the towel around his waist and went to his locker.

“Although it's normal, Baker was good looking, too bad she was like a fucking goat.” Bryce came out with Scott. "You wouldn’t have fucked her, Monty.

“Not even dead.”

The locker room were filled with laughter. Bryce shook his head and patted his back congratulating him. Each one began to dress and prepare to leave. The locker room were filled with small conversations and laughter.

Zach had watched the scene in silence as he changed of clothes. He had felt how everything removed inside of him when they had been talking about Hannah. A feeling of complete disgust. He still had a bad taste in his mouth. He closed his locker with a thunderous blow and left without saying goodbye to anyone. Monty and Bryce watched him leave, curious and dislocated, they looked at each other and shrugged.

“You see, he was, also, in love with Hannah.” Monty joked.

Bryce was laughing under his nose as he began to dress.

“See you tomorrow.” Scott said quickly to his friends. He had entertained himself more than he thought and was late for his date.

“Good luck, Scotty.” Both Monty and Bryce pretended to be penetrating someone.

“Remember to ask for permission before you fuck her.” They shouted. Scott could hear the comment from outside the locker room.

 

***

“How was the day today, Monty?” His father asked him as the maid took the dinner plates, they were waiting for dessert.

“Well, nothing important.” He kept his eyes fixed on his father’s. His father hated that they didn’t look him in the eyes when he was talking to someone. He said that a fixed and penetrating gaze was important, gave you superiority over the other person and that if you got that first victory, you almost had the war won.

“Any mark?”

“Yes. A nine and a half in physics.”

“And mathematics? Does that girl still help you? Remember that there are many baseball players, soccer players, basketball players, whatever you want; the important thing is to stand out above them. It doesn’t help to be remarkable.”

“I know. The next day he will give us the exercises corrected that count for the final mark.” Monty looked up at the servant when she bent down to leave the dessert.

“Oh! I almost forgot sweetheart.” His mother called for his attention. “Don't make plans for Saturday. We have a charity ceremony of the institute.”

“What time? We have said to train in the morning. We want to give our best in the first game.”

“In all, I hope.” Point out his father. “When you finish training you get a shower and come, we will be there. We'll bring you the suit; you cannot go like a beggar.” Ended the conversation his father. "Another thing, I know it will be difficult for you." Monty stared at his father, a serious and deep, spiteful look. “Try not to get into too much trouble while lasts the thing about that girl ... Mandy.”

“Hannah” Was corrected by his wife.

“Does it matter?” He took away all the importance it might have. “What I told you. Go unnoticed.” His father warned him in a withering way.

Monty nodded. He asked permission to get up from the table and went up to his room.

 

***

 

Bryce was in a bad mood. Everyone has noticed it in the moment he had sat at the table next to them. His expression betrayed him. The violence in their gestures. The aggressiveness in his tone of voice. The fierceness in his gaze. They looked at each other to see who was the brave who dared to ask what was wrong. None of them wanted to be a victim of Bryce's bad mood.

“And that ass face?” It was Monty who dared to speak.

“The jerk of Tyler has declared today. He has been the first.” None of them understood what he meant by that. Everyone knew that Tyler was the first to testify and that the trial had begun that morning. “He has named most of us.” He looked at his friends, focused on Monty, Rogers and Scott; He leaned towards them. “The threat has not served at all.”

“What? We will have to do something else.”

“I have to think something. Silence.” He cut Rogers.

The moment came in a class exchange; from the penultimate to the last class. He had not thought too much about what he was going to do to Tyler, what he wanted in the first place was to remind him who was the leadership there and that he could not skip the rules. They found Tyler who had just arrived. Without thinking too much, they hurried to him. Tyler didn’t see them coming. He was on his back, looking for the class books at the locker, he had arrived later than he had expected. The locker closed in front of his noses violently. If he had been something closer to it, it would have closed in his face. It would have hit him squarely.

“What the fuck?” He turned to see who this time was. He blinked suddenly when he saw Bryce accompanied by Scott, Monty and Rogers.

“I've never touched you.” He spoke without preamble and in a threatening way. The four had an aggressive posture. “Never. I can say more,” he added with an unreliable smile, "I've seen people annoying you and I told them to stop, I made them leave you.” He reminded him as if Tyler had to be grateful to him. “Why did you talk about me at the trial?” Again the aggressiveness and threat.

“How do you know?” He stuttered at first but quickly composed himself and was able to keep his tone of voice. “Did Clay tell you?” He looked both ways down the hall looking for Clay.

“What does it matter? Why have you talked about me?” He insisted forcing Tyler to look at him.

“Your threat doesn’t scare me.” He didn’t know where he was getting his strength from; it was as if the courage he had achieved in the trial when he was declaring continued with him. Although it was also true that he was not facing Monty, this time he was taking his place in Bryce's shadow.

Bryce raised his eyebrows with his best expression of confusion, looked at his friends. While he was talking to Tyler, they were watching that nobody was paying attention to them and that no teacher was walking too close of them.

“What are you talking about?”

“You'll pay for everything you've done.” He dared to threaten him.

Monty stopped watching, he looked at Tyler, he laughed at him and about his transitory courage and that he was daring to threaten them. He should know that that would have repercussions; it was as if he never learned.

Bryce looked at him, now, expectantly, challenging him to dare to do something.

“Porter.” Whispered Scott to his friends, warming them.

It was late. He had already reached them. Scott coughed mockingly and looked away.

“Any problem Mr. Walker?”

Bryce looked at the counselor scornfully, he gave the same look to Tyler and he and his friends turned around and left. Monty, without any intention of dissimulates and without fear of being called to attention, again, let Tyler know that he would be watching him.

“I should have given him a beating.” He demolished.

“You have to control your temper.” Monty put his arm around Bryce's shoulder laughing.

“It’s incredible that you tell to me to control my temper.” He pushed him so he could pull him away from him and jump on top of him. Between jokes he looked back at where Tyler was. “We have to do something. Fucking freaky.

“Count on me.” Monty assured to him with a wicked smile on his lips.

Scott and Rogers nodded, they also signed up.

 

***

 

“And well?”

Monty looked up at the stands. There was Sam, smiling as usual. Behind her there was a group of girls who looked at her and whispered, he recognized them from always going with Sam. Sam jumped from the railing to the floor and stood next to Monty. She urged him to speak, she wanted to know how she was doing his job to help him with the subject. Monty smiled sideways.

“An eight.” He brightened his smile with pride and satisfaction.

Sam imitated him. Without thinking she jumped on top of him to hug him in greeting mode.

“Very good! Congratulations!”

“Go to a hotel!” It was heard in the background, the cry came from the baseball field.

“I leave you the guest house Monty, you already know it!” Bryce yelled with laughter.

“Remember to ask for consent!” They kept joking.

Sam ignored them completely. She already knew them, she knew everyone from when she has dated Bryce. He knew his need to be true men. Monty looked at his friends and laughed. He pretended to lower his hands to Sam's butt and shove it into them causing his friends to laugh more.

Sam was the first to break that hug when she noticed that Monty's hands were separating from her body. She looked at the baseball field, most of Monty's teammates retreated to the locker room, the training was over, although some were watching the two of them.

“We'll see you tomorrow before your training, try not to be late.”

“I don’t promise anything”. He teased and went to the locker room before Sam could reproach him with something about his comment.

***

 

Steven kept an eye the corridor from the door. The hall was completely empty and nothing was heard. The teachers were gathered and the office was on the other end, they weren’t going to listen to them. He closed the door carefully and gave his companions a green light.

Bryce, Scott, Monty, Zach, Rogers, Anderson, Andrew, Jeremy, Lauren, Liam, Noel, Max, and many others, smiled at each other and started destroying the yearbook and photographing classroom by hitting a baseball bat, throwing it all over the ground, breaking material, destroying chairs, breaking papers, splitting photographs in half, knocking down tables, stirring absolutely everything.

It took no more than three minutes to make it look as if the classroom had been torn apart by a real tornado. Among the papers left one written in which said "learn to be silent."

They left the classroom, locked it, just as they had found it, and left, as if they had never been there. They had never been there after training for any of them.

 


	4. Four

 

 

They could still hear remnants of voices from some of the high school classmates who were still in the house, their scandalous laughter and music. It seemed that the night had no end, that the hours did not pass, that tomorrow would never come. But that was not a problem for them.

It had taken a while to climb the stairs; Monty had had to help her to avoid falling to the ground. Ruth laughed uninhibited, she had never smoked joints before and it was a completely great sensation; although the moment to make the first drag had been one of the most unpleasant things in the world, she even wanted to cry because of the smoke, the cough and how much it had scraped on her throat. But that had ceased to matter, she cared nothing.

She noticed how Monty's hand went up for her leg and continued down her thigh, slipped under her dress, kept going up to her hips. He seemed to have completely ignored his underwear. He was lifting her dress. When had that happened? Shee had not noticed.

“Are we sure we can be here?” She called Monty's attention. Monty stopped kissing her neck and looked into her eyes. He smiled full of security.

“Sure. Don’t worry.” Monty caught Ruth's lips with his. He went back down to the skin of her neck.

Ruth looked around. Everything caught her attention, she wanted to be attentive to so many things that she did not realize what was happening. She held up her arms for inertia so that Monty could remove the dress and let them fall on both sides of her body. Her arms were heavy, it was as if they had no life. It was strange, it was as if she were living everything in third person and not owning her body. The lights on the digital clock above the nightstand caught her attention. It was five thirty in the morning. When had the time passed so quickly?

“Is it really five-thirty?”

“Does it matter?”

“I should go home.” Ruth tried to move Monty away, she felt very clumsy, and that's how it was. She kept smiling, she could not stop laughing. Monty did not move a millimetre. He pushed Ruth's hair from his face. “What happen?”

“Nothing, don’t go. Stay, I'll take you later.”

“I cannot, really. I'm already very late.” Ruth continued laughing, as if all that was a game.

“I thought we were having a good time. I thought you were cooler, or so you seemed.”

Monty kissed Ruth's cheek, she laughed again. Monty, leaving a path of kisses and some small bite, came down to Ruth's breasts. She was still wearing her bra; Monty pushed the fabric aside to stop bothering him. Ruth listened as Monty unbuckled his belt. She heard the sound of the belt slit. It sounded in her head much louder than usual.

“I want to stay, but I cannot.” She could not stop smiling.

Monty took off from her. He was placed at his feet. He returned to caress her legs until reaching the height of his underwear, without thinking twice pulled the thong down and dropped it forgotten to the floor. He forced Ruth to spread her legs so he could get comfortable between them. Ruth offered no resistance.

“Five more minutes. I already told you that I take you home. Stop worrying.” Monty kissed her again. The kisses were in only one sense “Relax and enjoy.”

Monty knew exactly what he was doing, smiled confidently. He had drunk, yes, but just enough to go happy but be aware of what he was doing.

Ruth half closed her eyes for the amount of alcohol she had drunk and the effect of marijuana. She kept laughing without being able to control it. At times she felt that her body was heavier than usual. She was not sure what she was doing or how she got there. In her mind it was as if there was a dense cloud or a lot of fog that prevented her from acting as she wanted. Things were happening without her being able to do anything.

“Will you take me home?”

“Of course.”

Monty penetrated her suddenly and hard. He penetrated it again and again until it was over. Ruth had fallen asleep. While he had been penetrating her in no time he had noticed her to realize it and he had not worried much about not having an answer on her part. He had already had what he wanted from her.

When he finished, Monty buttoned his pants and left the room leaving Ruth naked and sleeping inside.

***

 

Monty pulled the boy's head out of the toilet and threw it to the side in any way and with a look of contempt on his face, as if the boy who just put his head in the toilet was worth nothing, as if it was an insect that he had just stepped on and it would have remained stuck in the shoe.

Monty did not know the boy's name, he had no idea who he was, he might not even be in his class; but that morning he had had a horrible day at home; his father had hard-fought him, had shouted at him, had hit him and he had threatened to put him to work for him if he returned to receive a call from the institute and all because of Mr. Porter; who wanted to play at being the superhero of strange students like Hannah Baker. Hannah Baker was dead and still screwing up all.

The boy had been at the least opportune moment in the least opportune place.

“Don't get back on my way, you imbecile.” He spat. “If you tell anybody, I'll know.” He threatened before leaving the bathroom.

Once he had his jacket on and the backpack was hanging on his back, he went to the dining room with the rest of his friends. It was breakfast time.

The table was full of people and as usual they all did not fit in and needed the adjacent tables.

“Beautiful face Jensen, tell me who has broken it that I'm going to send him flowers”. He scoffed on the way to his desk, completely ignoring Clay's friends. Clay Jensen had looked at him as if he wanted to say something, but finally he did not. He looked down and continued with his things. “Bon Appetite cocoons.” He saluted his companions and forced them to make room for him.

“Hey, Dempsey, your boyfriend is watching you again.” Bryce scoffed.

“You must be stupid to try to kill yourself and that you go so badly. I would rather be dead than be alive like Standall.” Monty laughed mockingly and with contempt. He drank of his juice. “What not to do to commit suicide, by Alex Standall.”

“Advice number one. Do not imitate Alex Standall.” More laughter.

Zach Dempsey faked a smile. He looked askance at Alex, what should he do?

“Do you have to change the diapers?” Continued Scott.

“Do you hold it while pissing?” Now it was Monty, again.

“Do you help him with the handjob?” Rogers participated.

"Shut up, my mother forces me, you know.” Zach defended himself.

“And you may like it a little.” Bryce stroked Zach's cheek soberly.

Zach pushed his hand away. He looked back to the table where Alex Standall was, looked away quickly because they were looking in his direction. He decided to finish eating quietly while his friends kept laughing and mocking in a rather unpleasant way.

***

 

Monty was leaning against the lockers while he waited for Scott to finish picking up his books. He was missing a notebook, the notebook of the subject of history, today they had history class and duties to deliver. The rest of his friends had advanced to not be late for class.

“Shit. Cannot be. I could not have forgotten it at home.” He began to throw the books to the floor, altered by the idea of having left it. “Cannot be. Fuck.” He muttered under his breath. “Stop laughing.” Ordered to Monty, he listened as his best friend laughed.

“It’s funny.” Monty defended himself without worrying too much. He bent down to see the books and notebooks that his friend had thrown on the floor.

“I'm an idiot.” He was still cursing.

“We already knew that. But now we also know that the joints are killing your neurons and that the scientists were right. Smoking joints is bad.”

“Fucking asshole.” He demolished again.

“Hey, is this the notebook you're looking for.” He showed him one of the notebooks.

“No, I've looked at them all, is on the floor for something.

“But here is one that has a very large "History" written on it.” He showed it to his friend with laughter. When he saw Scott's face he let out a loud laugh.

Scott put the things back in his locker while Monty laughed at him a little longer and asked him about the girl he had been with lately.

“We've gone out sometime, had a good time and those things.”

“Have you fucked her already?”

“No.” He answered hastily.

“How many times did you go out with her? What are you waiting for? To marriage? A written and signed request?” Monty scoffed provoking Scott's laughter and hit him on the arm while muttering that he was an asshole. “For example, on Saturday, at Bryce's party, I fucked with one.”

“Who? And what were you waiting to tell me?” Monty shrugged lightly.

“I think she is a cheerleader. I think that I've seen her in a game with Chlöe but do not ask me anything else.”

“Will you see her again?”

“Do you ever put on your dirty underpants? What a stupid question.”

“Well, I'm not very sure, you know when you have so many clothes lying on the floor that you do not know what is clean of what is not. Maybe I've ever put on dirty clothes.”

“Imbecile.” Monty mocked of his best friend.

Scott shrugged, wasn’t affected at all that his best friend called him imbecile. He was sure that he was not the only one that had happened to him and whoever said he had never done it, was lying. It was like masturbating or trying on women's clothes.

“I like her and I do not want to spoil it.” He finally said aloud although it was in a whisper. “I have thought, even, to stop meeting with her and not spoil it.”

Monty looked at him with an implausible eyebrow; he could not understand the logic of not seeing a person you like so as not to spoil him. He waved his hand in the air to dismiss the situation.

“You only have to do everything that we would not do.”

“Then I'm not doing it that bad.” Scott smiled.

“I just want to be the godfather of your wedding. But that day, please, put on clean underwear, make sure of that.” He begged jokingly. Both friends laughed.

The second bell rang warning the students that the class was going to start and that if they did not hurry they would be late and they might not be allowed to enter.

Scott closed the locker and went to class with Monty while he resumes his interrogation, with a touch of malice, about the girl he was dating.

***

 

_That is not the real Hannah Baker. That is a character that the defense created. A girl whose life meant so little, apparently, that even her companions cannot talk about her._

_Hannah was not a liar, she was not a bitch, she was not a bad person. She was a good friend who supported her friends. The problem is that nobody supported her._

Monty snorted tired and annoyed by the subject. In the news he also had to put up with Hannah Baker. He closed the closet door and took the bag of chips with him.

The house was completely silent, at that time his parents still working, the only thing that was heard was the television and the noise that he made. He went to the entrance and picked up the sports bag that, as usual, he had left lying next to the door.

He remembered the conversation he had had with Bryce when he had asked him if he was not worried about what Jessica Davis might say at the trial. Bryce had told him that it was not his business, that he didn’t have anything to worry about, that he would be calm, that he had everything under control and that, of course, Jessica would not dare speak.

But Bryce was wrong; Jessica had drawn everyone's attention by showing those photographs. Was that having everything under control? Yes, Jessica had not spoken, but she had fanned the flame. Bryce had no idea, he would have to continue taking care of him. As usual.

Maybe Jessica needed something more than a simple anonymous threat to keep her quiet, he would have to think something and who had been the imbecile of the photos?

Monty went up to his room. Nobody would say that this was a teenager's room. There were no posters hanging on the wall. There were no clothes lying on the floor. The shoes were all stored in the shoe rack and there were no clean clothes waiting to be put in the closet. There was a perfectly made double bed with nothing above it. There were shelves full of trophies that he had won. There was a bookshop full of books, photographs and some hanging medals. There was a desk with a computer and a stack with the books of the institute of the subjects with pending duties to do. Between the wall and the desk, in the corner, there was a baseball bat signed by all the classmates of the elementary school where he went. There was a clock on the wall above the desk.

Monty sat on the desk chair and took out of his backpack the homework he had to do. He had math homework, he was going to leave that for the last.

In less than an hour he had all the homework done, had eaten the bag of chips and cleaned all the crumbs that had fallen on both the desk and the floor. The math homework was left. He pulled out the phone and sent a message to Sam.

“Phone saved when you’re doing you homework. You know the rules.” His father called his attention from the door.

Monty had not realized he had arrived.

“I'm talking to Sam, for math.” He showed the phone screen to his father. His father proved that it was true. It was like that.

“When is the exam?”

“Three days before the first game of the season.” Monty unlocked the screen one more time to read Sam's answer.

“Remember that if you do not pass the exam, I'll take you out of high school.” Remembered to him his father.

“It's not fair. I always get good marks in everything.” Monty muttered between teeth.

The phone locked itself.

“If you do not pass maths is that the team and the university aren’t important enough so I'll take you out of school and I'll put you to work. It is not a negotiation. I can help you, but you have to do it by yourself.” Without giving Monty a chance to reply, his father left the room and locked himself in his office.

Monty wrote Sam a new message asking if they could see each other. He was going to pass and he was going to go away. Baseball was going to be his one-way ticket.

***

 

“Bryce climbed it faster.” Sam greeted with a charming smile.

“Give me a little truce, it's the first time I've climbed it.” Monty defended himself. He looked back to see what had climbed and sighed audibly. “And I'm sure Bryce's motivation was better than mine.”

“Stupid.” She shook his head laughing. “Be comfortable.” Sam went to the door and closed it. His father was at home. “Have you tried to do something?”

“Yes, I was going to say that you may feel proud of me but it may be horribly wrong.”

“Horribly wrong? You will not need help with language too?

“Are you telling me you want to spend more time with me?” He smiled cunning, half bowed to Sam.

“The exercises.” She pushed him away from her with laughter. “You're very donkey.”

“But you have not said no.”

Sam shook her head and changed the subject. He knew boys like Monty very well, and she knew that if they continued down this way they would enter in a hamster wheel and they would not get anything out of it. Besides, Monty knew when and how to be damned charming and was a very good manipulator when he was interested.

Had he ever manipulated or tricked her and she had not noticed? No, no. It was not that she and Monty were the best friends in the world but she was sure that Monty liked her and had a minimum of respect and would not play with her that way. Besides, she was smart enough to see it and had some experience because she had dated Bryce. Or maybe she was making a mistake in everything and had not learned anything from Bryce and Monty would play with her whenever he felt like it.

“Look here, you have to pay attention Monty, is all the problem well posed but you have forgotten the hierarchy of symbols. Remember, multiply and divide always before addition and subtraction.” Sam looked up from Monty's blade and stared at him, as if she wanted to discover something in him that would resist her. Monty did not look at her, he was focused. He reached for the eraser and made everything he had written disappear. “You have to concentrate.”

Monty said nothing, remained focused, put the formulas back in the calculator and copied the correct results. No, she was sure; Monty treated her as an equal, as he did with Scott.

“We see the next one?”

“For when are they?”

“Day after tomorrow.” Passed the page.

Monty took off his shirt. Underneath he wore a basic short-sleeved T-shirt and Sam saw it. She wanted to scold him, tell him that he was a damned bully and a horrible person, that he deserved the bruises and that she was seriously considering stopping to help him while he kept messing with others even though she knew that it would have no effect on him. But she could not. There was something about them that she did not like, that made her distrust them.

“How did you do that?” She exclaimed bringing her hands to her lips. She could not look away from Monty's arm. That was not a simple bruise; it was a monster, it had life. “And there you have another one.”

“What are you talking about?” He looked at her strangely. Dislocated.

“Of that.” She indicated the bruises.

“Oh, it's nothing.” Monty did not give them a single glance. “Baseball, playing with bats is not as good an idea as we imagine.” He smiled charming, as if everything was under control and were children things.

Sam did not think it was because of being playing with the baseball bats, but she decided to leave it there for now, she would be in charge of investigating on her own.

 


End file.
